Erect to spreading shrub (1–) 2–5 (–6) m high, dioecious (in Vic.). Branchlets glabrous, or rarely, hispidulous, often tapering to spinose tips, often with slender lateral spines c. 1 cm long; branching angle mostly 45°–50°. Juvenile leaves usually broadly obovate, conspicuously dentate, often larger than adults; adult leaves oblong to narrowly obovate, (6–) 25–40 (–67) mm long, (2–) 4–6 (–11) mm wide, solitary or in fascicles of 2–5 (–7), subsessile or sessile, margins usually callus-toothed to serrate with 1–20 teeth per margin, often confined to the distal half; apex acute to obtuse; leaves with stomata on lower surface only, glabrous, or with minute, scattered hairs just above base; lateral veins usually evident. Inflorescences 1-or 2-(rarely to 4-) flowered, axillary to old leaves or their petiole scars. Flowers pedicellate with a pair of small bracteoles between base and mid-point. Sepals unequal, imbricate, 0.6–1.8 mm long. Corolla campanulate, pale yellow to lemon yellow, daphe-scented (stronger in males). Male flowers with pedicels 2.5–6 mm long; corolla 3.0–4.0 mm long; anthers sessile, oblong, 1.4–1.8 mm long, with a membranous, orange-brown, denticulate appendage, exceeding anthers by c. 1.3 mm; ovary and stigma vestigial. Female flowers with pedicels (1.5–) 1.8–2.5 mm long; corolla 2–2.7 mm long; staminodes 0.7–0.8 mm long, sometimes with an appendage exceeding anther by up to 0.8 mm; ovary ovoid c. 1.5 mm long; style c. 1 mm long. Berry ellipsoid to ovoid, 7–8 mm long, 5–7 mm diam., maturing to bluish grey or completely white; seeds 1 or 2 , 3–4 mm long, plano-convex in section.
Grows in a wide variety of habitats, usually in open forests and woodlands, often near lakes, swamps or watercourses, from near sea level to c. 1000 m above sea level at Mount Tomah in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Soils are usually sandy, derived from sedimentary parent materials, or alluvial, rarely volcanic clays. Mean annual rainfall is generally in the range of 600–1200 mm.
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